The benefits of standing while working are numerous and well documented, and there are a number of options out there for either buying or building your way into a more upright work experience. But none of them worked for me. So here's my Standing Desk project – I hope it inspires a couple more people to stand up at the computer.
You want to be able to switch between standing and sitting easily.
I didn't want to scrap my existing desk (it works fine for sitting). It's a hollow-core plywood door with a mahogany veneer. One side of it rests on a two drawer file cabinet. The other side is supported by two tacked-on legs. I didn't include these items in the budget.
The first thing I did (as recommended by several thoughtful posts) was stack books, games and etc. up on my desktop until I could stand upright and type comfortably on a keyboard placed on the stack. For me (I'm 6'1″ on a good day) I needed an additional 12″ of height above my desktop to comfortably type while standing. I know! I thought it would be more also!
I built a plywood shelf to support the keyboard and hold all the other crap that used to float around my desk. I used scrap plywood from my garage, but if you have to buy it new, it won't cost more than $20 for one nice sheet. The top shelf is 12″ off the top of the desk, with a 2″ lip on three edges. I put an intermediate shelf in there and bought some tupperware knockoffs as bins for pens, USB keys, post-its, etc. The shelf stretches the entire width of the desk, but is only 10.5″ deep, so it's easy to move around, and when it's pushed forward, there's still plenty of workspace on the desk. I used a 1.5″ drill bit to make a hole in the back of the shelf to feed wires.
I put a piece of plywood under the base, shimmed the pole into place, mixed the concrete (first time since my days at Arcosanti!) and glopped it in. Pro tip: Wear a mask when you mix the concrete. I breathed some dust in and I swear its turned the back of my throat into a mini parking lot. Then, with the help of my beautiful assistant, I made sure the pole was level.
Notice the shims under the base: it has to be level for the pole to be true.
Here's how it looked in place.
I rested the monitor on the shelf to attach it to the clamp, plugged everything in, and it's done! A dual-mode desk that takes 30 seconds to switch between standing and sitting, doesn't look terrible, and cost less that $150.
Just slide the shelf forward and raise the monitor!
And for you PC/external mouse users, here's my gaming setup… Keyboard and mouse live on top of the PC under the desk.
The whole project took about three hours, and was pretty easy. I need to do some wire-management still, but overall, it works pretty well. Hope it helps!